DiCaprio To Play Hoover In Eastwood’s Biopic

Following his stint this summer as a morally-questionable professional in Christopher Nolan’s new film Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio will take on the role of another (albeit real-life) controversial workaholic – namely, J. Edgar Hoover in director Clint Eastwood’s biopic, which is tentatively titled Hoover.

Eastwood will reteam with his Changeling producer Brian Grazer for Hoover, which will be based on a script written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk).

Hoover’s reign as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) lasted for over 37 years and began in the mid-1930s, as seen last year in Michael Mann’s period crime caper, Public Enemies. There’s no word at this point as to how much of Hoover’s life will be chronicled in Eastwood’s film, but I would expect it to focus on Hoover’s public behavior and how it differed significantly from his private life (where he was known for being a cross-dresser amongst other things…).

This will be DiCaprio’s third leading performance in a biographical pic with an Oscar-winning director at the helm. His first two biopic outings were playing the young con man Frank Abagnale in Steven Spielberg’s film Catch Me If You Can back in 2002, and the troubled but brilliant Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese’s 2004 flick, The Aviator.

Two of DiCaprio's previous forays into the biopic genre

If the acclaimed actor does is indeed “going to spread his wings” in the role of Hoover (as an insider told Deadline) then he may be up for his fourth Oscar-nomination as well – assuming that he isn’t nominated for his Inception role, that is.

One of complaints I still hear about DiCaprio’s performance in The Aviator was that he simply looked too young to play the aging Hughes – or any other “mature” character – despite his being 30 at the time. Six years later and DiCaprio’s appearances in two other Scorsese films – The Departed and Shutter Island – have proven him to be a rather intense actor, capable of holding the audience’s attention despite his (admittedly) youthful disposition.

What do you think? Do you like the idea of DiCaprio and Eastwood working together? Let us know in the comments section below.

Hoover is tentatively set to arrive in theaters sometime in 2012, though that could change in the future, given Eastwood’s tendency to work fast as a director.